Just a Diamond in the Rough…

Seven months ago, the fiance and I moved into a tiny little shack cozy little cottage that barely came with any anemities. There was no central heating, no insulation for the house, hardly enough power to power our microwave and tv at the same time, no cable, no internet, a 400 cubic inch fridge, and a bathroom so small it was a miracle if you could do a full 360 degree spin in it. We built it up, installed nice plush carpeting that helped insulate the drafty cottage, bought a full size fridge and a few room heaters, and things got very comfortable. Until today. Whilst doing the dishes using hot water and (heaven forbid) watch tv with the two heaters on, both circuit breakers blew their fuses. Normally this meant I needed to go behind the main house my fiance’s cousin lives in, which has the main circuit board and flip it, and things would be fine once again. This is typical, we have to do this at least four times a week. Today, however, was a very different story. I went to flip the breakers behind the big house and no power turned on. After calling upon a knowledgable resource, a.k.a. my fiance’s dad, to come scope out the situation, we discovered a few things:

1. A 30 amp circuit behind the main house is powering our 2 20 amp circuits in our house. 20+20=40 amps, and 30 amps does not equal enough power for 40. Simple math.
2. The circuit wires in our house are fried to the bare wire. That explains why we flip our breakers so frequently.
3. The wires are stapled down taut so the can’t be pulled and fixed. We have to take out one of the faux wood panels on our wall to expose the wires and fix it.
4. This all needs to be done by an electrician. One who doesn’t mind that our house or circuits isn’t up to normal building codes.

2 and a half hours later the fiance’s cousin left work early to inspect the problem. After turning every appliance off, flipping on and off our breakers and the ones behind his house, and his father’s (the property owner) consultation, we came to the conclusion we needed an electrician. This presents a few problems:

1. An electrician won’t be able to come out tonight, as of 6:00 p.m. Hopefully one can come tomorrow afternoon.
2. Without electricity, I can’t see, cook, bathe, or keep my gecko and bird warm throughout the 28 degree night. And it’s supposed to start raining again, which means the house will be drafty.
3. My fish will die by suffocation, without the air pump on, pumping oxygen throughout the water.
4. I can’t get into the fridge because then all the cold air will come out, and my food will spoil.

With the hubby and his family to the rescue, he bought a battery powered air pump for the fish. His family brought candles so I could see while it gets dark, and later found a loooong extension cord to use from the big house to our cottage, a lamp, and a power surge protector so we can power that lamp, fridge, microwave and one room heater. And we don’t have t.v. until Thursday, due some malfunction with that satellite receiver that can’t receive our tv signal. It doesn’t really affect us as much as everyone else, seeing as how we don’t have any power to power that tv. Things aren’t so bad, it’s like living the way we did 7 months ago, during the blisteringly hot heat warm summer weather. At least we have internet, heating, and a full size fridge now. It’s been 4 hours without power and there’s still no definitive answer when an electrician will be able to come. I wonder if this is standard protocol if you live in an apartment with a renters contract? But I’ll say this, I know what I’ll be doing with my upcoming tax return.